Mount Cattlin is the first mine site in Australia to have real-time solar tracking panels as part of its power generating requirements.

Galaxy expected to implement on-site Li2O and mica analysis, initiate 24-hour operations, optimize lithium concentrate specifications, and begin trucking concentrate 187 kilometers (km) east to Esperance Port for shipment to China before the end of November. Mount Cattlin operations include open-pit mining of a flat-lying pegmatite orebody and delivery of ore to a conventional crushing and heavy-media gravity recovery circuit. Piacentini & Son Pty has the mining contract for the project. The company will provide a Hitachi 1900 excavator, Caterpillar 777D dump trucks, a Cat D9 dozer, and other ancillary equipment, as well as operators and maintenance staff.

The Mount Cattlin processing plant is located to 2 km northwest of the Ravensthorpe town site. A four-stage crushing circuit produces a minus-6-mm product from run-of-mine ore at a treatment rate of 1 million mt/y, feeding a fine ore bin that feeds the concentrator on a continuous 24-hr basis. The concentrator includes a reflux classifier and two stages of heavy media separation (HMS) cyclones, with mechanical attritioning of the intermediate sink product. The final spodumene concentrate is stacked on a pad adjacent to the plant area, drained and prepared for trucking to port.

Power on site at Mount Cattlin is provided by a dedicated diesel generator supported by state-of-the-art solar tracking technology. Galaxy has 14 giant solar trackers and two wind turbines at Mount Cattlin that together generate 226 MWhr/ y of renewable energy. Mount Cattlin is the first mine site in Australia to have real-time solar tracking panels as part of its power generating requirements. The solar tracking feature means the solar panels are able to follow the sun in all directions to maximize the power generated and provide 15% more power than a single-axis system.